Cycling is hard; I’m not leaking any trade secrets with that statement, but it feels good to say it anyway. No Cyclist avoids suffering, but of those who venture into our world, there are some who seek to limit it while others choose to embrace it. Then we have a handful of characters who consider playing Whack-a-Mole with the Man with the Hammer to be good sport, particularly when playing the part of Mole.
In the current climate, it’s impossible not to consider the impact doping has on our sport. I, for one, have happily watched professional bike racing and delighted in the spectacle for close to thirty years, aware to varying degrees that doping is part and parcel of that spectacle I enjoy so much. In the last decade, I’ve gone so far as to assume most – if not all – riders are doping; a regrettable situation but one which has done little to temper my enthusiasm for the sport. After all, when all the riders are doing it, then surely what we’re watching is a level playing field of willing participants who understand how the game is played. Cheaters cheating cheaters hardly seems like cheating.
It’s all beautifully romantic so long as all the riders are doping. This is not the case, however; there are those who are racing clean against dopers. These riders are truly being cheated out of a livelihood by a culture which not only turns a blind eye to cheating, but who ostracize those who don’t. These riders who refuse to dope have few voices and last week, the sport lost one of the most forward of these with the retirement of Nicole Cooke.
Nicole has been a force in Women’s Cycling since turning Pro in 2002. A powerful rouleur, she excelled in every terrain and in any race format, but was nigh unbeatable in uphill finishes, taking a total of three La Fléche Wallonne Féminine titles, each of which required such a large laying of The V that it brought her to collapse. I was aware of her as much as anyone can be with the state of the coverage of Women’s Cycling, but she became one of my favorite riders after reading a piece in Rouleur about my favorite hub manufacturer, Royce. In the article, Royce’s Cliff Polton described being at a trade show when a young girl better described as a ball of loosely-contained energy bounded up on his booth and started asking about bottom bracket axles and wondering aloud if he could help her achieve her goal of becoming the wolds most dominant female cyclist.
Given what I understand of her personality, I get the feeling it was more like executing a plan than achieving a goal.
Cooke raced at the top of her sport for thirteen years; she scaled the heights of achievement with wins in every major race on the calendar including the Ronde van Vlaanderen voor Vrouwen, La Fleche, the Giro d’Italia Femminile and Grand Boucle (women’s Tour de France), the Olympic Road Race, and the World Championship Road Race. What’s more, she accomplished it while remaining staunchly anti-doping to the point that she faced sackings for refusing doping products.
Anyone who is a fan of Cycling should read Nicole’s retirement statement – I could never do it justice here. My personal hopes for the Pharmstrong Legacy is that it yields a a blood letting in the UCI and that the energy it spends on covering up its own corruption goes instead into promoting Women’s Cycling.
I’m sad to see Nicole go. Yet, for a rider who thrived in the hardest conditions and who unyieldingly stuck to her principles, I find it very fitting that the final two wins of her career came in Stages V of the Giro Femminile and Energiewacht Tour, respectively. Bravo, Nicole.
Here is the finale of her last Giro stage win:
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Speaking of Hard Men - you guys do realize that I have just as many Tours wins and twice as many balls as Lance Armstrong don't you?
While I agree women's cycling takes a backseat to men's, there seems to be various aspects we are all talking about. Is it tv broadcasting, media coverage, sponsorships, prize money, promotions, marketing, quality of competition etc?
I can see how it is disparaging for the female athletes. For those that follow college hockey, women's hockey suffers so horribly, there is no game admission charge, whereas the men's tickets can fetch hundreds for the local Bean Pot tournament. They've tried scheduling the women's games straight after the men's, thinking a few folks would stay and watch the women. The seats cleared out and the usual local parents are all to be seen.
I don't think the poor showing by the UCI to get female cycling out there is unique to that governing body. There is a real disconnect with professional women's sports, and I don't necessarily believe it has anything to do with who's running it. The proof that women and athletics can NOT be a reliable source of revenue is complete BS. One need not look any further than Lululemon Athletica, ticker LULU on the NASDAQ. Phenomenal growth in a yes, i'll say it, women specific line of athletic attire. But ask yourself, how many of the women doing yoga knew that LULU also sponsors a team with Specialized? How many of them knew yoga provides an amazing stepping stone to being a cyclist? How many knew that cycling can be as social as you want it, and also as reclusive as you make it?
You know when times are exciting? It's when Rule 82 happens. We close the gap, we make it relevant. That's a metaphor worth taking a 2nd look at.
end of delusional rant.
@eightzero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFBOQzSk14c
@ChrisO
Oh my word! I thought I was the only one to have this feeling, as I work through my own thesis. Thanks, this gave me a good laugh & let some stress slip off my shoulders. Definitely dealt with advisers who seemed to be negative about all the wrong things just for the sake of saying something negative. No real comment on the work itself, the potential, the direction, just pissing on little "form" parts. Excellent, makes me feel like I'm not the only one who enjoys pursuing things academically but wants to slug most academics in the mouth.
@Cyclops
WOW!
@eightzero
Speaking of sport, its so easy to rile you up on this, it nearly takes the fun out of it.
Nearly, but not quite.
I'm not arguing whether to like her or not, I'm arguing your premise. I think its a misconception that everyone on wallstreet is so wealthy they can retire at 25 or whatever she is and not have to worry about money again.
In fact, my experience is that the more money you make, the more beholden you are to your job and the more you come to rely on have that level of income or more.
Where you see a spoiled kid, I see a girl who had a comfortable life and gave it up to go work a hell of a lot harder for a hell of a lot less money, with a hell of a lot less security - especially with the state of women's cycling.
I admire that kind of risk-taking; it makes me like her all the more.
@roger
Is your point that Lululemon should be doing more to promote their team, the racing, and the sport? Excellent point. We were just in one of those stores and there was absolutely no mention of it, no posters, no nothing. Excellent point that the sponsors themselves miss the opportunity to promote the sport.
As with all interesting topics, it is a very murky pond we're swimming in. But the point stands that with how much energy the UCI puts into covering up its corruption, they should be doing much more to be uncorrupt and redirect their energy into promoting the women's side of the sport.
@frank
If we didn't have this on the interwebs, all we'd have is skateboarding cats. Since I can't pedal a bike worth a Merckx damn, I have to find some place to turn a pedal in anger.
That isn't how she markets hereself. When I read Nikki Cooke's piece, I hear about how a kid sacrified the most important part of her life to compete. To that I say "wow." When I read a recent piece about Evie, she said (a reasonable direct quote) "I don't feel bad about coming in second in the TT to [Kristen Armstrong]. She's had 4 years to prepare (yeah, by having a kid-ed) and 4 years ago I was behind a desk [on wall street]." To that I repeat: boo hoo. And all those people that came in 3rd and lower? Nice way to dismiss their effort, honey.
Seems to me the vast majority of wall street bankers are pretty good with taking huge risks with other people's money. Their job, as they see it, it to maximize their gain and shift losses to their "clients." Gordon Gekko would have fit right in the peloton. Screw 'em. So Evie has a truckload of bikes and gear paid for by the sale of Blue Star Airlines and Teldar Paper stock transactions. Good on them.
@roger
Man, it would have been fun to see COTHO call DOPRAH a fat bitch. She'd have wasted him instantly.